Australia pushes for locally made TV, but producers cry foul

The Australian government has put new incentives in place to urge TV networks to broadcast Australian programs. But for some producers, it’s not enough.

Australia will lower by half the license fees that networks pay if the networks show a certain number of hours of Australia-made programming.

The objection is that the hour quota, which is 730 next year and jumps over 1,000 the following year, can be spread out across a network’s different channels. And, Australian producers say, the rule doesn’t include any incentive to show new TV, giving networks a loophole to re-run old shows they’ve already paid for.